Six days apart, the Baldwinsville and Fulton ice hockey teams ended the regular season and opened the Section III Division I playoffs squaring off against each other, and it ended in a 2-1 score.
Most importantly, the Bees won both of those decisions, and by doing so secured a return trip to Meachem Rink to try, again, to take down reigning state champion Syracuse in next week’s sectional semifinal round.
Fulton was one of Central New York’s most improved teams, building a 10-7-2 record behind two first-team All-League selections, forward Derek Schumaker and goaltender Jadon Lee. Dan Bartlett was also tabbed as the league’s Coach of the Year.
Despite all this, B’ville, by defeating the Red Raiders in the Feb. 14 regular-season finale, climbed up to fourth place in the final regular-season standings, meaning that the playoff rematch would take place Thursday night at Lysander Ice Arena.
On the same week that major renovations were announced by the facility’s new owners, everyone gathered for what turned out to be a playoff thriller.
They traded first-period goals, B’ville getting on the board as Matt Carner scored, Fulton seeing Schumaker find the net, and they would stay 1-1 for a while.
Constant B’ville pressure throughout the second period did not lead to a go-ahead goal. But the Bees were patient and, in the third, broke the tie thanks to Luke Hoskin putting the puck past Lee.
The Red Raiders would nearly answer late and force overtime, but B’ville held on and now plays Syracuse, with whom it split two regular-season meetings, prevailing 3-2 early in December but taking a 4-0 defeat on Feb. 13 right before the two battles with Fulton.
When the sectional All-Star selections were announced, no B’ville player was on the first or second teams, with Hoskin, Alex Pompo, Braden Lynch, Matt Speelman, Casey Scott and Brad O’Neill on the Honorable Mentions list.
